Talented Northern Jets footballer Jack Harper is loving life back at home and is a big believer in what his footy club can achieve this year.
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Harper believes an exciting opportunity awaits the Jets on Saturday when they travel to Langtry Oval to take on ladder-leading Marrar.
"I think we're missing three experienced players but it just gives an opportunity for some young blokes to really take on some more responsibility and show us what they're really made of," Harper said.
"If we can get a win like this against Marrar without a full-strength side that would give us a heap of confidence."
Harper, 23, returned home to the farm this year after time spent playing at Belconnen and Noosa.
The half-forward was quick to make his mark upon his return, having been named the Jets' best in each of the first three rounds.
"I'm loving being back home. It's really good being back around your junior club again," Harper said.
"We've got a lot of young guys coming through which shows our future is pretty promising I think. And that's been the biggest talking point out of the last five games that we've played. We've had heaps of positives come from a lot of young blokes and our experienced guys are probably yet to fire, which is the exciting part for the rest of the season.
"If we can pull four quarters of footy together then I reckon we can match it with anyone, because it's a pretty close comp. It's been really exciting and positive so far."
While happy enough with his early form, playing half-forward and through the middle, Harper believes, like the Jets, he still has another couple of gears to find.
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"I'd like to play some more consistent footy and play a full game of footy. I'm still yet to do that but I'll just do whatever I need to do to contribute to get our team over the line," he said.
"We've all got a role to play, whether that's kicking goals, setting up goals or winning the hard footy, then just do whatever we can to get the win.
'I think the beauty about it is we're still early in the season and we've only played five games, there's still 10 or so to go so we've still got plenty of time to hit our straps and get some momentum going then."
The Jets had the bye last week but were trounced by Barellan to the tune of 45 points last outing. Marrar have now won their last three straight but Harper is a big believer in the Jets' best footy.
"You've got to give yourself a chance going into any game and I think that's just a testament to the competition at the moment," he said.
"We know full well that if we play a consistent four-quarter game of footy then we can match it with anyone. It's just how we turn up on the day.
"Marrar are a good outfit, don't get me wrong, we'll have our mindset ready to go for that and they've got a couple of really key players and good ball movers off the half-back line so that's probably going to be an area for us to focus on.
"They're a quality side so we'll show them much respect and hopefully come away with the four points."
The Jets' best has proven good enough to defeat North Wagga, Coleambally and CSU. Their worst has resulted in big losses to The Rock-Yerong Creek and Barellan.
Harper believes the key is in their heads.
"In those two losses, we've had a tendency to lose concentration at times and teams have been able to really get some momentum and pile on some goals in quick succession," he said.
"It just comes back to our mindset and not being lazy and doing the hard work early. Once we play a good game of footy then I think we'll find that any team will be hard to keep up with us.
"We're a young, fit and fast side, as long as we're switched on more often than we're not then we'll be right."
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